but if it's that important you'll find a way e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Township Council the township of Washington adequate notice of the meeting was given in accordance with the open public meetings act by the township cler to at least two newspapers in January and this meeting has been posted on the township bulletin board electronic Message Board WCTV and on the township website please notify the municipal clerk for any disability requirements necessary for attendance at township Council meetings fire exits are located through the double doors to your right and through the door on your left please silence all cell phones if you are unable to attend the council meeting in person and would like a topic to be addressed at a council meeting please send email to the township of Washington contact all council members at once Township of washington. us would everyone please stand for a salute to the flag I to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all roll call Council M CIO here councilman councilman man here councilwoman bz here council president to sen here let the record reflect also in attendance mayor Peter Kari Township attorney Kenneth po Township Clerk Susan wowski and assistant clerk Cornelia Lisa payment of bills resolution number 24271 authorized payment of bills May 25th 2024 to June 13 20124 do I have a motion so move second any discussion any discussion roll call councilman CIA yes councilman Sears yes councilman Alman yes councilman Bess yes council president TOA yes public service announcement for June 17 2024 psng is replacing existing electrical and gas meters with new smart meters throughout the town as required by the BPU please be sure to respond to any letters requesting Meer replacement if you do not reply your service is in Jeopardy of being shut off please visit our website for further information the town trip of Washington is launching its second round of our Hometown Heroes Banner program as a living tribute for our community to honor past and present members of the Armed Forces please visit our website for further information commuters may now apply for a spot in our new Resident only commuter parking lot at the emergency services building please visit our website or contact the clerk office at 201 664 4425 for further information Township offices will be closed on Thursday July 4th and Friday July 5th the next council meeting will be held on Monday July 15th we will now have a presentation by the township of Washington Public Library their annual report Mrs rip Mrs Ripken is on the phone the director on the zoom good evening l I think she's muted recording in progress can you hear us go ahead good evening Miss Ripken hi good evening are you guys putting me earlier on the agenda you on yep you're on the agenda all all right beautiful good evening everybody thank you so much for giving us some of your time tonight I'm going to jump right in because I know it's precious uh I'm just going to be able to share my screen with you here and we'll get right in I have three components to discuss with you guys tonight um the first is the uh 2023 annual report then I have a construction update and then an update on all of our special needs programs so here we go okay 2023 so first is a little visual of all of our usage for the year of 2023 uh library card holders obviously we had a little bit of a dip for people who didn't renew in 2020 during the covid pandemic the library was fully back open from everything in the winter of 2022 all government restrictions were lifted so library cards did go back up slightly to just over 4,900 Li active library card users active being people have used their card within the last 18 months virtual program attendance which was obviously the bread and butter of the library during 2020 um obviously gradually declined but we actually saw a huge Resurgence in 2023 to just over 11,000 visitors on our virtual programs um in comparison our regular program at attendance also started to go back up we had gone down obviously very drastically to just over 2,000 attendees um in 2020 we had over 7,000 back with us in 2023 grand total of virtual and program attendance at the library in 2023 was just over 18,000 visitors that came in obviously those are duplicates for some people who really love library programs um but we had over 18,000 attendees at our programs moving on to circulation as of 2020 we had um our outdoor locker system was installed so that materials could be picked up at any day or time that was convenient for our residents we still do offer homebound delivery for anybody who has medical ailments preventing them from physically being in the library um and our circulation has gone up drastically as a result of the accessibility between digital and um the remote services that we have as well as the physical items I further broke it down to take a look so you can see that our adult and young adult circulation has been steadily going up since covid we just just under 25,000 items these are individual items that circulated in 2023 children's materials was just a little bit further under 30,000 and for our uh electronic circulation we had a very big boom at just over 78,000 we added on a lot of different digital resources in 2023 and started doing new online video tutorials to help our residents learn how to use them and I'll be going through those in just a little bit lend and send statistics these is why we're part of buckles because all libraries are kind of you know everybody has a different size to their building a different capacity to their building um so we borrow materials from other libraries that we may not have the space to house in our own or collections that might be a little bit robust say you need a different um you're really into Spanish language materials we don't have enough of what you're looking for you can borrow from paramis from Ridgewood from West Caldwell um there are 78 different libraries and Buckles at this point between Bergan paic Essex and Union counties um we lent out just over 8,000 items to other Library users in the system in 2023 and we borrowed about just over 7,000 for people in our area Wi-Fi sessions are another really hot one in the library we updated our Wi-Fi system in 2023 um so we saw skyrocketing from 20222 um tripled the amount of users that we had on our Wi-Fi in 2023 database sessions which I'm also going to go over in just a little bit contributed just under 2,000 um hits these are things like World B online brace bra fuse which is for help now vet now and job now those help now is the um homework assistance program vet now is specifically for veterans in our area helping them look for um revamping their resumés once they become uh General residents in the area changing military terminology over to more common language in their um job descriptions job now is just that it's just inter interview skills job presentation um resume assistance things like that fold three is a military database for military history you can look up former members of family who might have served in different Departments of the military mango languages as far as foreign language skills we also have a Wall Street Journal and major US major daily subscription for those who really love different newspapers and we added on Bold yoga for at home yoga classes for both children through adults and seniors um computer sessions also these are in-house versus the Wi-Fi sessions so in-house we had over 1,800 logins for using our at in the library computer sessions before I go on to the construction update I'm just going to go through the library's website real quick so that anybody who's looking can kind of find what they're looking for at home this is obviously our main page if you go through our scrolling task book here we have a couple of different highlights for you if you want to book an online uh inperson computer Ono one session we do things with helping with how to download ebooks and audio books how to use your Kindle we just signed on for welcome to library Chef it's a culinary um class that you can do from home we also have pre-loaded Kindles that we advertise here so that you can download and take them with you our library of things is constantly growing so please check if you click here to learn more it's going to go through everything that we have from puzzles to telescopes to um you know extra- large Jenga games that you can do in your yard now if you go over to your um upper right where it says digital resources that's where you're going to find all of those databases we've broken them up by age so you can easily find what you're looking for children are obviously first you have World Book Online ABC Mouse BookFlix under each item each database is a small description of what it is that they offer you as well as how to log on to get started whether you need a live active library card the ZIP code um there's a couple of different options here now ancestry online as of 2020 they went back to inside the Library only so you do need to come inside the library in order to access ancestry.com um we do have a number of other databases though so fold three hoopla job now those are all remote ancestry is the only one that you have to use in person at this point if you scroll all the way down you'll also see we have the E permit test that's for driver's education to practice DMV skills for all the tests that are on there Consumer Reports we also have a subscription to and at the very bottom is where you're going to find our newest bu yoga and Library Chef um now in addition to these guys we did just s recently sign on for something called Library speakers Consortium Library speakers Consortium consists of libraries across the country who have banded together um and are able to get uh various speakers to you digitally so what that means is that they are having once a week um every month uh they have different speakers come on there's a live stream where you can do a Live question and answer with that author you can email in questions ahead of time you can also go back and look through their catalog of previous interviews and and uh Q&A sessions this summer they are focusing on children and their summer reading they have authors like Kate de Camillo coming on which we are very excited about and you can look at um the library's website or talk to Miss Marie our children's librarian to get some more information there's going to be a special e newsletter coming out um that has information about that but we've been having pretty good attendance on that one next everybody knows Library construction is also upcoming we got the phone call last week that it is set to begin on Monday June 24th so this is very very fast for us we're doing our best to access everything we can for our residents we will be closed for one week is the current estimate so Library will be closed starting Monday June 24th this image is the rendering of what our new entrance will look like as you can see we've got a brand new handicapped accessible entry way as well as our book drop is now going to be handicapped accessible and our locker system is going to be moved over underneath this new awning and to the left of the building the awning does have permanent um uh lighting underneath it to provide some nighttime safety for our residents as well as the letters on the the front of the awning there um showcasing what the building is will be back lit so that that way drivers past at night will be able to see who what where the building is and Who We Are um as of right now last day that the library will be serving residents is going to be on Saturday we are open from 10: to 5 that's Saturday June 22nd the last day for buckles delivery for anybody who has requested materials from other libraries that is Friday June 21st will be our last buckles delivery during the renovation process the last day for Locker pickup will be Sunday the 23rd after that all the trucks are going to be in our parking lot is going to be closed there will be a banner that is in bright red you're going to see it saying closed for Library renovation it's going to be hanging from arazo currently the contractor's plan weather permitting and materials permitting we should be able for staff to access the building the very next week on July 1st so staff will be able to enter the building with a remote entrance and we will be able to do curbside pickup and homebound delivery residents will be limited to the materials that we have on hand because buckles will not be able to get in for their delivery yet now this does not prevent any residents from re-rooting their deliveries over to Hillsdale pamis whatever town they may work in if they're part of buckles you can explore new our library friends in the area and get a feel for those libraries you and if you have any questions about that you can reach out to Mrs Baker she's our head of circulation she will be more than happy to assist you in how to go about choosing when you go online to place your hold where you will be picking it up from now during our closure there will be no due dates between Monday June 24th and Saturday June 29th when we reopen our doors we will be accepting book returns there will be a bin over by our garden tables on the lake side of the building that you can drop off any returns to we're happy to check them in for you if anybody needs an extension on due dates they are welcome to call us staff we'll be in the building the phones will be active we will be doing homebound deliveries and like I said curbside pickups during that time now everybody keep your fingers crossed because the grand hope is that that will be temporary we are only going to do have to do a few days of curbside pickup the library will be shortly closed for the July 4th holiday and then the hope is that we are going to be back open to the public with all the doors open they're saying tentatively July 8th we are saying middle of July just to give us a little bit of wiggle room there just in case um we're going to be updating all of our social media regularly that includes our website our Instagram Pages our Facebook pages our outgoing phone messages we also do have a very robust e newsletter that we send out there will be updates on there as well I did include the um the Facebook page address and the Instagram address as well as our website at the bottom of the screen and our phone number so that people can give us a call um we're going to be giving you know this is uh moving much faster than we had anticipated um so we're trying to do our best in order to get everybody the materials that they need um we will be giving reminder calls to anybody who has items currently on hold at the library so that that way they can come and pick everything up um I hope you guys can see me again here um pick everything up by the end of day on Saturday so that way they have everything um at home for during our closure um any questions on the renovation or the annual report question no okay great the last thing that I wanted to kind of update everybody about is that um some of you may remember that the town received uh a grant for special needs programming and the library is really happy to help out with this we designed um a huge selection of programs and events they're going to be kicking off in August because most of the um classes with special needs have an elongated school year so they usually go until like the middle to end of July so starting in August there will be a special newsletter going out from the town um that's going to review all the different programs we're going to be having uh we have somebody on staff who is certified in teaching music education to special needs uh families from juliard and she's going to be doing weekly music classes we're going to have weekly theater classes for those interested um information and support sessions for families and caregivers uh we're hoping to do a summer olympics event in August um we're going to be doing engagement and exposure um meetups with the Emergency Services teams in town um we are working on some special holiday and cultural performances for everybody sens uh sensory friendly nights out at the movie theater in town as well as some all abilities nights at different event locations things like Sky Zone and things like that in the Bergen County area so there's going to be a special newsletter just for that programming that's going to be coming out in the next few weeks to everybody it'll be delivered directly to their home mailboxes Excuse Me Miss riffkin sure Michael Alman um the program that you just described um is it targeted to a known uh population within the township or is it uh broader uh for a a wider audience so uh you know out of town residents can uh take advantage right now it's limited to just residents this is the first time that the town has offered something of this magnitude um where it's so heavily focused so we are having special registration dates for residents first and then opening it to further Out of Towners now if somebody is in because we have a Joint School District with wash with um Westwood if it is a child that is attending the school district because we're trying to work with the guidance counselors on a couple of these programs progs anybody who's attending the Westwood Regional School District would be obviously invited if they attend if they are um utilizing any of the businesses in town special needs businesses um adult daycare centers that facilitate their care we're trying to team up with those locations so hopefully we'll be getting just a few you know their they're based out of town and that's our our first priority and then if there's room available for people from you know Mawa or Adel Emerson then they're welcome to attend space permitted thank you surely any other questions I'm sorry I know I went fast I just know you guys are busy I was just gonna ask you miss Ron do you have anything El left or just questions if we have any questions question my I guess the only question I had is I know last summer you the library had every weekend a different truck like a touch truck right we have Touch a Truck is an annual event that usually we have the DPW come um so right now it's looking like it's going to be in August we were hoping for the end of June but that's when they said the construction was going to start okay all right so it'll be in August this year okay thank you yes sure miss riffkin can you please uh put out the website for the library sure I'll bring that up uh www say it now sure www.wp of Washington PL for public library.org thank you of course thank you for library of course the library board meeting is actually tomorrow evening at 6:30 if anybody has any questions or concern about the res the renovation accessibility I'm in the building as of 1 o'clock tomorrow I'm always happy to meet with any residents with questions shoot me an email anytime like I said Mrs Baker is is more than happy to assist with any loan questions or anything like that thank you so much no problem you all have a great night you too thank you thank you thank you thank you Mr Mary will you be presenting the administration follow-up report I will yes thank you uh since Mr D follow yeah good evening everyone uh administrator is outdo to a death in the family so I'll be pining for him tonight as best I can and one of those areas is the uh getting back to the Council on things from the last meeting so if you'll indulge me um the cost estimate for the renovation to the old ambulance building has been requested from architect Anthony iino um and uh we're in receipt of that the balance of the funds available currently for the swim club a capital line with 438,000 $50 two Grant lines with $30,000 each for a dog park for a total of $60,000 a Grant Line with $28,750 and a current line with $60,000 $111 from a local Recreation Improvement Grant in 2024 that was in the budget Heather Henry uh will work with the police for a social media Mr Mr Mar can we just stay on the pool for a second of course wasn't some of this money spent for Boswell's um work that they've done to date um he says in here the balance of the funds available so I'm guessing if we have spent money with well not we have spent money with them but I'm guessing it's already taken out of here 28 177 was what what what Grant was that 28 173 173 excuse me um I'm sorry he just hasn't here Grant Line so I don't know specifically put Grant Line I'm just keeping track yep uh um Heather Henry will work with the police for a social media post on pet waste and bike safety um attached U because the council got a copy of this is a document that will accompany our next tax bill mailing it is a listing of storm water related ordinances this will provide us points toward our annual report for public Outreach one of the ordinance discusses pet waste bulletin boards have been installed at the Town Hall and Library buildings for the dissemination of storm water management information resources child activities Etc this also assists the township with public Outreach measures and lastly our code enforcement officer has been requested to address overgrown vegetation obstructing sidewalks that concludes the administrator's report thank you thank you Mr Mayor sure motion to open the meeting to the public all in favor I I would anybody in the public like to address the council at this time yeah good evening uh how you doing uh Patrick F 107 C Street good evening Mr P how you doing can you speak into the microphone please how's that better better better so um I'm up here again about the um flooding in Township I was Wonder ing since the last time I met with you guys if um you guys started alloca allocating any funds towards um uh Improvement uh for the desilting and Des snagging of the the Brooks we have not allocated any funds to that but we have allocated $750,000 to the emergency repair along the brook um Mr Mayor it's by right up the up Upstream of Bethany correct yes addressing Expos or exposed sanitary sewer lines okay so so we are spending 3/4 of a million dollars to address an emergency that came up during the inspection of all the of the entire Brook so that's all that's been allocated at this time so is there any way um what else did I want to ask for the grant writers to write grants for us they are pursuing every grant that is available to us he's actively looking understand I understand with all the the sewer problems and stuff that you guys had with that um but that's really not affecting the flooding for no but it's it's an emergency we have to deal with I understand that I understand that um but I also have there's also problems behind our house which uh Mr seers knows is a pipe that every time it rains that pipe fills up our cash basins fill up overflow into the street um you know when it rains it's kind of stressful I got to worry about the back of the house if water comes in if it's going to flood all those things um could you uh could you do that could you reach out to me when you get a chance I'd like to see it if you don't sure no problem we'll we'll talk yeah yeah that's not a problem at all I'd like to just come out look at it Mr Ser maybe you can join us no problem since you know where it is yeah sounds good um but like I said it's been it's been stressful especially on my wife she every start the rain she's you know on the computer looking at the weather reports you know um if we think it's going to be a bad storm I'm boarding up the back the back door in fact we're to the point where we've had to have now we're just um going to have construction on the house hopefully sometime soon um it's been a year so far uh to close off the back door and of course closing off the back door we need another entrance that leads down to the basement so um it's costly for us so far um and I just was you know I've been here quite a number of times so I just wanted to know if if things are moving along at this point we're we are waiting for the proposals I guess is is that something Boswell Was preparing Mr Mayor for all the other stream areas that they've done a report for um no they're not currently working on a cost proposal um you know they've been busy applying for the permits to do the existing work that's been approved yeah so right after that gets rolling then I'll have them uh do cost proposals for the rest okay and Mr SE up um probably Supply the data that the five graduate students are doing for the the town uh doing a complete survey of the flooding areas we should be able to support the mayor with anything going forward with that we have them for 7even weeks 40 hours a week um five graduate students from five different colleges are part of my Montclair State team the mayor and the administrator we met with them a couple weeks ago we were out last week doing a compl compl walkth through of all of the uh flooding areas they were taking measurements uh doing uh dropping some um um water uh levels into the Brooks um I have a zoom meeting with them every Wednesday morning I'm sorry every Tuesday morning and we discuss their progress along with the professor that's in charge of the whole group what is the final outcome of this group Mr Sears the final outcome is the pinpoint the flooding areas give us resolutions or solutions to the problems um there might be something that they see um they have all the latest and greatest Technologies they're using for the colleges okay um all of the five students I think said correct Mr Mayor they have F uh some carrying two or three majors and they're all in computer science natural Natural Science land survey uh water management so um I'm kind of anxious to see what they I ask them to think out of the box don't just look at our area look beyond our area and give us a complete overview and what they say so uh thank you and they will come and make a full report to the mayor and the council okay so I'll make sure Mr Fay is invited to that yes can I I appreciate it can I just I thought um or I recall and maybe I'm misremembering but you've obviously been here before uh a number of times at the last the last time you addressed the council uh I thought Mr D Carlo indicated that one of the major issues was the pinch point of the bridge and that there was effectively no funding to resolve that um and that some of the other work the dagging uh the dredging uhing excuse me softer word is desilting desilting okay desilting and you're correct Mr Alman the bridge was originally higher and for some reason they lowered it you know and that becomes a clog point so I'm just wondering you know trying to be as real as possible you know which I think is what you're looking for you know what is the what do we think the solution is so Boswell we did the fly over we have a detailed report of trees in the brook uh silk buildups we know we have a a a bridge at the end of town that is a choke point you know is there is that where they is there hope you know we we looked at all the flooding areas in it town I'm saying they know that that's yes and they have the uh overviews they have the satellite overviews they have the uh drone overview they have the Ruckers study um did several years ago uh they're doing their own survey with their own uh satellite hookups so uh we gave them some engineering Maps you know they're looking beyond the township you know well if that's the choke point is that bridge inside the township it's well that's the truck would be a truck point for in his area yeah but you know and you know along the as as the river or whatever you want to call the brook Brook uh bends there all you know all the silt is built up and stuff like that over the years um you know 50 years it hasn't been taken care of sorry man not on the mic but if we but if we if we if we look at Hydraulics and what Mr Sears is saying by removing moving those choke points the water just gets down to that bridge much faster correct and it floods you faster so it may not be what we have to it's it's if you if you look at it well when we we moved a lot of the trees in that Dam that was built up where we found it on that curve M it did stop someon flooding yeah so what it is is it's coming down around it's hitting the buildups probably plus the bridge and and then it it comes in across across the U you know around the baseball field towards us which is all the the Wetland corre the flood plan plus it also had you know like I said it comes up that pipe which you know yeah there there may be a solution for the pipe just by putting a backf prenter on it you know like a you know tide gate chamber on it or something to stop the water from backing up but the problem is You' have to do it to the catch Bas in the street also no if you just did it at the alall it would stop it from coming up so but there we I'll take a look at it so I mean anything I appreciate it I just you know I'd like to like I said I like to keep coming back in and seeing how everything's going okay all right can I just add uh Mr Sears councilman sear sir do you know um is there a timeline I know they're just starting or maybe they haven't even actually hit hit the ground but is there a timeline for them to seven weeks seven weeks they already they already hit the ground last week we you think before September we'll have them here we have report by the August the 6 I believe August 12 August 12th meeting we'll have a report um mark your calendar August 12 got it August 12 thank you all right I appreciate it thanks a lot to see you would anybody else like to come up and address the council at this time good evening William Ferrara believe you I wanted to speak about clarfield I want to speak about clock field for minut sure um on opening day the police restrict parking only to one side of the street um many other days during baseball field like yesterday morning it's the same situation existed where there parking in both sides of the street I pulled out of my driveway or my my daughter was driving she pulled out of the driveway to go south by Cleveland and there was a man coming up and he was two doors down from me he had the back all up to U the street below so I could get past I don't know if a fire engine could have gotten through and I know that was one of the reasons why the first uh only one side of street parking was put in place on opening day in the past years I expect it'll happen again this year a number of tournament games that the town plays on the weekends where we have a number of people from outside parking in both sides of the street and it becomes Bas basically one a one lane street I was just going to suggest that we look and have the police look and see if they can't expand the one side of the street parking to those days when we have special events okay okay uh the second thing I wanted to bring up is I looked at the review of the bills and I noticed I brought this up before the amount of watering that's going on a clock field that was over $430 in the bills in May whereas the other fields were running about 80 to 90 to $100 so I don't know if either the other fields were all ground out or that was excessive uh water U the other thing I wanted to bring up I noticed on clarkfield and Memorial Field there was a bill in there I don't know the men's name for like $3,200 for plumbing was there any what was the re yes the uh back flow preventer that comes into the building yeah um needed they've been repairing it Mr uh Mr May if you don't mind I I was talking to Mr La they they've been repairing it for years now with parts they've had and this year the part don't exist any longer so they have to put a brand new one in they have to put a brand new backfill prenter in the building for the bathrooms and the uh the two the lady the men's and ladies room so that was that cost um and I wanted to know I watched last week at a last meeting with Mr St just spoke and I was wondering is there any money in the budget M EXC me can you speak up some more please bring theic up bring theic that's right try that okay I want to Mr St just gave his presentation last week and I know he number of Tim Lane dates and so forth for COA is any are we going to have to hire someone to do a lot of work with that is there money in the budget for it well they are our they are our town planners so they will bring us proposals to do that work it will get done to make sure we're meeting but there but I know there's money in the budget for the Master Plan and there's money in the budget for the assessment and there's money in there's money for special uh what's that line called Mr P evu fa litigation litigation special projects okay so there is money for that you Mr sen you mentioned the Vio property the old vivana property as a potential issue U this the any any any any any lot that's not been developed is a potential issue because they can come back now and ask for more right and I uh recall when we're discussing when the discussions were held about the under the previous uh agreement there was also identific a of the community center and I believe the uh yes Garden Center if they were out a business that that would become eligible for for they are overlay zones that is correct yeah okay so my speech is I don't think we should make a lot of spend a lot of money fighting color I think we should designate a lot of places senior citizen housing and see if to subsidized money for it particularly you know the empty property across the street from the bus station or by the bus station and maybe some of those other properties so if we have to end up putting in Ka it's for senior citizens design and you be subsidized I know that the the housing that was built in Hillsdale and in Westwood both of which were subsidized and both of which one of which was sponsored by the church that I go to Hillsdale and holy JY Episcopal Church I sponsored that that project so I think we can look at some of those other things rather than just spend a lot of money on attorneys and planers fighting what inevitably is going to happen um unfortunately we don't own the properties so it's up to the owners you know that's the problem we have we own the properties then we could do what you're saying and share them for senior citizen housing and so forth but we do not own those properties at this time so the question I had another question final question is um I just wanted to make another statement afterwards but there were two resolutions to renew perer alcohol at two non-existent places one of which is going to become a monu school and the other one is Sals whatever that is I don't know what Sals is but Charlie Browns why would be issuing permits for to sell liquor at places that don't exist they own the liquor license Mr for they have they have the right to renew it they have not sold do they pay a fee for that yes they pay a fee for it we collect it every year from them it stays with me they don't get the document they can't do anything with it and and if there's going to be a transfer it's got to come through my office they pay full fees every year yeah the other thing and the final thing I wanted to do I wanted to congratulate Mrs valz voting no last week on the resolution to uh to limit the debate I understand to me it's a conflicting U argument about whether or not you should be shutting down access to the people on the uh on the zoom I've used the zoom I hate using the zoom U there too damn many numbers you have to punch in to get to it and versus people coming here here and I just think that I I tend to believe that you should let it open and use the power of the GFF to shut down the jerks are called it make CL us of tic REM marks thank you thank you would anybody else like in the audience come up and adjust the councel just make a quick comment actually more of a question for Ken on the parking Ken by clarkfield um how how can the council put an in ordinance if that's what it comes down to to say parking or no parking on one side just during special events um as opposed to putting strict times in the police department yeah I mean it you could you can do an ordinance I mean you have to get you have to get the traffic yeah traffic analysis yeah I'll talk to the police about it but they're G to they're going to they might say yeah it's a great idea how how does the council want to put it in an ordinance to say what times Well you have to identify because you have to have it posted give Su without having things consider maybe the council wants to give that some thought the the police may come well come back and say yeah it's a problem but the council has to figure out an ordinance to say when yeah but they might come back with a recommendation of how to handle okay I mean I'm I'm not police I don't see any other way other than restricting parking but that's why they do what they do right okay thank you well the other thing is doesn't have to be an ordinance you know you have an emerg situation you have you know you have the the event coming out just one game you don't have to make a total an hour and a but um motion to close the public comment period so move second all in favor I I thank you resolutions consent agenda the following items have been determined to have the anonymous consent of the council and will be enacted in one motion should any item require independent consideration any council member may have such item removed from consent agenda does anybody like any of the um items remov at the time I just have one question on um which number Mr can the the are we considering the letter for late night part of the application for doghouse always do it's in the resolution the restrictions if there's a restriction that the council wants it's always in the resolution so I have a question on that so we're going to pull 273 yes so we're voting we're a motion to approve consent agenda what's that I need 278 to be removed 278 also yeah so to do all of them but two 24- 273 and 24278 resolution number 24252 author uniform shared services and consolidation act agreement for violations clerk for the township of Washington municipal clerk court excuse me resolution number 24272 authorize refund of engineering soil escrow for Block 3601 Lot 2 and the amount not to exceed $350 resolution number 24274 authorized renewal of plinary retail consumption license for tjg Inc trading as season caterings year 2024 2025 resolution number 24275 authorize renewal of plenary retail distribution license for Township Liquors years 2024 2025 resolution number 24276 authorized renewal of Club license for Washington Township Colombian Club year 2024 2025 resolution number 24-27 authorize renewal of plary retail consumption license for Island Way trading as barari Grill year 2024 2025 resolution number 24279 authorized renewal of ABC license number 0266 d33 d-006 CB Washington townships LLC trading as Charlie Browns inactive license for the term July 1st 2024 to June 30th 2025 resolution number 24280 authorized disposal of surplus property by auction on du deals resolution number 24281 authorize the acceptance of bid and awarding contract for Calvin Street 2024 Road Improvement program to DNL Paving Contractors Inc resolution number 24283 authorize submission of Grant application and execute grant grant contract with New Jersey Department of Transportation for the Improvement of coolage Avenue do I have a motion move second roll call Council massia yes councilman Sears yes councilman yes councilwoman bz yes Council presidenta resolution number 24273 authorize renewal of plary retail consumption license for Amy LLC trading As Dog House Saloon and Grill year 2024 2025 do I have a motion second discussion my only question was um do we have any uh insight into issues on these evenings uh since we do it annually you know do are we aware of any problems originating in the dog house or complaints from Neighbors or anything not that I've heard from my office Mr Mayor anything brought up to your level on that that you know not that I can recall in recent memory thank you anything else Mr rman [Music] no counc massia yes councilman s yes councilman Colman yes councilman mes yes council president yes resolution number 24278 authorized renewal of ABC license number 0266 d33 didn't I read that one you did you did say 24 days 278 could you pulled down one and I had it and I'm only pulling it because I have not received their renewal fee so we're pulling it we just pulling it table we're tbling resolution 24278 because we have not received their fees so we're not voting on that this is motion to adjourn to conference agenda some second all in favor okay under Administration DPW PD ambulance building Mr Mr Mayor thank you again um yeah hopefully the council saw in their packet um the cost estimate to uh switch the Old ambulance building over to a credential um council chambers um and so um that was in there in addition to their um lest the latest proposal uh for the space so I think since this is part of a bigger picture uh not putting words in the council's mou I don't know if you're ready to do anything tonight but uh we're getting the information as requested thank you swim club design Mr Mayor thank you again um again don't know if the council had a chance to uh look at any of the uh the drawing that was submitted with the letter from the uh Recreation Advisory Board um I can 99.9% announced tonight that the uh public meeting will take place next Tuesday at 7 o' uh I will confirm that tomorrow and uh put out where will it be held uh in the senior center that's next Tuesday next Tuesday yes that's the 25th yes so June 25th at 700 p.m. correct I was just I was just taken back by the the new design um not having any field for you know I when I was on Council last time one of my reasons for originally voting no on the swim club purchase was because of the you know the hindrance of the wetlands and the all the all the restrictions on the property which I was told that you know we could put 500 houses on it if we didn't buy it and all this and and we were going to build a sports Mecca you know and put Fields there to relax the usage of Memorial fields and I don't know how you know and then I was here before I got put on Council I believe it was two years ago in April and there was a plan showing a softball Diamond a baseball diamond and a soccer field and a football field and you know lighting and parking and it was supposed to be the sports Mecca and it was going to help us releve the um you know the usage of Memorial Field and it was going to help you know having more fields and now we end up with just a great lawn and a parking lot um I'm just upset about that I I think I children deserve more than a great lawn um you know it's a great lawn during the day it has no lighting for nighttime events so we can't even say we're going to have concerts there I just I I I wish I wish the we would have been able to do more there well again um this is just a starting point um again we would look you know I don't want to speak for the whole Rec Advisory Board we were trying to keep costs down uh obviously if the council wants to you know put lights there the rec Advisory Board I'm sure would be in favor of itely but that was what the rec Advisory Board was supposed to give us something that the town needs and we've been waiting two years for this and you know we did have a plan two years ago that was more in line to me for what the children of this town deserve and now we just ended up with a great lawn with a bathroom and a parking lot and yes we got a dog park which I know we do need but it doesn't it doesn't help us with the big need which is the Fe and I thought the record visory board since they're members of all the sports groups would have realized the importance of needing more field space again I can only you know I'm not going to speak for the whole board I am a member of the board um that's what was decided I let the uh the letter stand on its own and this meeting again is to get more of the Public's input on it like I've said this is a starting point it is not an ending point it is to show you know what can be done on that property given it tography but this is nowhere near you know set in stone yet I expect this plan to change quite a bit once we get the residence in but we waited two years for this plan and it's it's just the beginning yeah but we had a beginning two years ago and then we went totally a different beginning so here's here's my my um question comment I I I share your sentiment right I expected to see more more I do recognize that it's the first draft and as everything you know you keep changing and adding and anybody that's done work knows that the original and what comes out ends up being different but if the rec Advisory Board I can't recall but I know some some folks on there isn't it Mr Tumi and Van scary so um yeah that Tumi is a uh a member of The Advisory Board uh Mr scair has what I call almost an honorary position since he's a superintendent though correct so then I just wonder and that would be one of my questions at the meeting next week is I would think that they would have that same that share that same idea and sentiment about the fields so I wonder what the take was as to why I I would assume they agreed that we don't need those fields I feel we also need Fields but maybe they're seing Something That We're Not and that would be a question that I would like to POS next week I I I'm total agreement with you but I I you know we knew buying the swim club was an expensive Endeavor and that was my number one reason when I was on this Das last time for originally saying no to the purchase because it's a $10 million project if we do it right and if you don't do it right what are we spending money for we have a lot of projects going on and if you put a $1 million placeholder on a great lawn and then we turn it into a510 million you know Sports comp complex like it's night and day and and when we bought the property we were told it was going to be a sports complex not a great one I would say you need to phase it complete it in phases you know so that we canally responsible yeah but it's a 50 foot grade difference I'm not saying that this is what I want the the end game to look like I I agree with you we've known that since day one and I that was my one Bon of contention was you start at West Street and you get down to that parking lot it's 50 SE and I said you got to build a massive retaining wall either a 50 foot high wall on one side or two 25t high walls well I'm just going to say we need to be you know let's be patient yeah let's see we've been patient for two years I mean how much longer are we going to wait listen if we want to you know budget 10 million want the recis board to make the decision no it's not their job it's their job to advise they are advising this is what they waited two years for this Mike this is what they you know it took time to get us here you know that there's a reason that you know okay all right we'll talk about I guess Tuesday night I will be at the meeting at 7:00 p.m. I hope to see as many residents as possible well um will Boswell be there or yes a representative from Boswell will be there to give a short presentation and then to uh respond to questions only about what can and cannot be done at the property because again they have no skin in the game so they're not going to say you know anything other than that will it be taped or anything cu I know some I'm working with WCTV to make sure that they can okay thank you all right any other questions on this is there um you got it next go ahead go ahead Mike I just um has there been a price tag assigned to this at this point no okay again because we don't know if this is going to be the final and so I didn't want to spend any money on Boswell coming up with cost estimates when the final may not look anything like this okay and just from a uh what we can build structures we can build uh since we've taken the the funds is there an opportunity or can we build a forac better term a Bandshell or a stage um you can build within reason anything that is not an enclosed building um so you know it can have a top covering it can have you know soft walls but no hard walls so to answer your question so pavilian structures yeah like that was the intent here maybe to do a shell over that for a a movie screen for summer movies and bands uh to project out that way I mean and the only reason I asked that is you know the bands have proved popular um but Mike they'd have to be during the day because you have no lighting down there understood or there needs to be temporary lights brought in I mean uh you know access to that we don't need to sound so negative on this you know starting point access for the the portable stage for instance right if we didn't put something permanent where you know like where would that be when we talk about when we look at this again just using this proposal um this is wide enough where we could bring the stage down here and put it here um even if this was not en closed per se okay all right so Tuesday at Tuesday 7 I assume if it once it's confirmed it'll be broadcast a little wider yes yes there's not too many people watch the council meeting a few do a few do oh Mr se you wanted to talk thank you council president I was shocked like Council valz was when we we saw this diagram I mean if we wanted to spend a lot of money for a lawn sprinkler systems dog park you know the the dogs aren't going to stay in that thing they're going to run on the rail uh for years we heard we need more basketball courts we could use another field and I know this is just a starting point I just feel that this is not what we were actually looking for as a starting point um I I kind of feel let down in a sense that you know we were talking about basketball courts you know you got a pickle ball court somewhere over here by the parkway I think yeah correct um they said they can add two more I believe that's what you said yeah well that's great but but it's not what I understand the what we were told in the beginning what they needed they needed relief for the field uh they wanted to get out of the schools basketball courts put went up here s uh suggestion that was originally told to me was fill in the pool pave it over put a doome up there and you have your basketball courts you add of the school you know I mean that's exactly what I was looking for and but again uh like the man said it's a starting point so hopefully we could move past this to get something that I guess well councilwomen valz and I expected to see some Fields you know yeah let me just say yeah the rec Advisory Board was obviously trying to keep the cost down had we done it the other way and had the council said all right you have 10 million dollar to spend then they might have come up with something different but you know we can't have our take and eat it too we can't claim that we don't want to spend money on these things and then complain when we keep it simple so you know but again it's a start Mr Mar just just to be to go back two years ago I was I was I was pressured into voting yes on this for a field a field of dreams and that's what it was sold to me on this day that by buying this property we were going to limit development on it by developers and we would get to feel the dreams that would help realize the it would it would take the burning off Memorial and we would have a sports Mecca down at the pool that's what was sold so I don't know how it went from that to keeping it cheap and and I made it clear back then that this was a millions of dollar project to get Fields there and that's why I I was originally saying no to it because I knew we were going down this path well you're on the council now you can make it happen it can be the Field of Dreams with the right funding but again up up on here there's five members I'm already hearing three different opinions almost imagine when the public has they say we're going to get 50 different opinions I think are all on the same page is it possible for perhaps between now and the meeting that um BOS will give us maybe a list of everything that you could potentially put on there and then how it gets arranged almost like um you know again with all due respect if we want to go with huge retaining walls they said we can do a lot of things but you know why go through this exercise if they're going to say it's going to cost a million dollars for that and the council so you know this all has to be Balancing Act the rec Advisory Board did their thing now we have to hear from the residents and the council what do the residents want what is the council willing to spend well I'm almost saying I'm imagining almost like a menu you know if you want X number of pickle ball courts it's this many thousands if you want two Fields it's this much if you want dog park it's this so that it can almost be like a menu of you know but but it'd be nice if we had one flat piece of property to do that on so much of it depends on the Topography of that property that um you know you can get maybe some little uses in certain areas because of the topography so again you know I urge everyone let your voice be heard come to the meeting Tuesday uh you know that's how we're going to make these decisions thank you would you consider getting a different look from a different engineer on this property um I I don't think so Tom because again it's it's Boswell's not saying what should go there they can say what is feasible to go there based on Council Rec Advisory Board and residents input so again they're not steering this they're only steering it from what can go on there practically and what cannot well if we have a different engineer look at it from the original plans that we saw with the with the courts the baseball fields like who developed who developed that one Boswell well I'm kind of confused Tuesday wait till next Tuesday don't we have that meeting and then we'll go from there yeah it's a it's a new starting point yeah no no I understand Mr Mayor I'm just confused on how Boswell went from no a to Q it it wasn't Boswell it was more the rec Advisory Board taking a lot of different things into effect no problem thank you thank you can I just hold on Mr Cas Dr Cas all right um so going back a few years back when the there was an intent to buy buy the property and I was not for it because of the topography and eventually uh I was at one of the meetings and went through to purchase the property which is okay and since the majority of the board at that time wanted this property I said okay you know if you want that's fine not get my vote um but I did really want to use the property for something other than fields and a great law um and what's restricting us from doing it is the $400,000 that we got for it for open public space um we have a building that we need to rehab that we could rehab in the original um its original footprint at the time I asked the grant writer can we expand that footprint um to include the um I guess you would call the footing or the uh perimeter of the um existing pool and that was a definite no it could only be the existing space what we don't have like Westwood has is a community center where we can um use uh a facility for indoor use when the weather is either cold between November and April we'll say right um for uh activities you know like we want to get out of the high schools for basketball it would be great to have a facility to do indoor stuff for these kids all types of different sports we're not dependent on the high school which is again it's a bone of contention that we pay taxes to the high school they us you know it's money going from one pocket to the other but it's our money you know kind of crazy so i' would like to take that component out obviously but again we we took the money knowing that it was going to be open space unfortunately and I was never in favor of that because it really limits and hinders our ability um and not saying I want to use this for the next thing you know we have a a land use uh shortage and that money that we took really restrict if we needed to put let's say Mr G's going to kill me maybe put one dumb truck there because we need a little extra room we can't do that and that's the issue that we run into when you take someone else's cash we paid cash for that property to me in my opinion since we already had the funds for that property why did we limit ourselves of taking the grant now limiting the use and U utilization of that particular areaa because of that but again that is s I understand we can't give the money back I mean at this point I would actually say give the $400,000 back and we'll come up with the the funding anyway to do the studies because it's really in the end what have we spent so far on the studies on this property I think we're under 200,000 right Mr Mayor probably under 200,000 I hope so yeah I'm just assuming just the number I'm thrown out really sure that we spent the whole four 95 no no right I mean it's a lot less um you know again if we could do that I would have I would probably go in that direction this way it gives us an opportunity to do other things not having to change Topography of the land using it for some outdoor activities and now having a structure um you know that we can use in inclement weather instead of using this particular uh space for four months out of the year we have something that we could possibly use for 12 months that year and that's just saying leave the leave the existing building that was used yes well since Swim Club parties and stuff since we're since we're we're I don't think we're going to give the money back because no one takes money gives it back that's not going to happen it's going to be very unpopular um you know let's use that building and Rehab it with the footprint and maybe we can get to indoor basketball courts or Class A small classroom and some type of indoor activ uh Indo door facility that we just don't have because we don't use the senior center other than the seniors for the Youth right we do the art yeah but it's it's on a super limited basis right so that's that's the thing i' really like to have something like that the only thing I want to say Steve Co again give credit to the seniors they let us use that for a lot they do yeah I don't to come across that way but I just want to yeah that's exactly right they're very generous with that space and we really the town of appreciates it but I think it'd be a nice thing for them to have their space and then we can you know manage manage our space for our youth and Elder youth um to to use as is but again I'm not going to be available on Tuesday but I you know again this is a starting point I think there's a lot of great ideas I think there's a lot of things we can do with it we just have to come up with a real good solution that doesn't cost us a ton of money because we don't have it um but I think again at a starting point we just have to put our heads together with the best possible utilization of this piece of uh piece of property so I think we can do it I know I know this Council can do it I know this town can do it we just have to come together and you know work and get this done s Alman I just um I know we don't want to spend a great deal of money exploring uh options that we're not going to move forward with to me though it would give me I think it would maybe form some of our Insight on the move forward to understand what something like this might cost verse that initial proposal the overhead with the two baseball fields so you know basically leveling this and making it one flat uh surface uh that can be fully utilized verse you know trying to work within the existing topography and you know if it's not a number is it a multiple so if the Great Lawn is you know one is the baseball fields five is it 10 is it 20 uh so you know in in Boswell's opinion if they can uh put some uh structure around that or perhaps speak to that uh at the meeting next week yes and again um once we get the input from that meeting that will be the next step for Boswell the way I Envision it is to say all right we heard you know 10 people want this and only one person wants that and so let's start now start to put some costs associated with what the people are looking for thank you thank you sidewalk repair County bridges on pasak road ridard road Mr May um actually on on that one and the next two um since the I'm going to say since the uh administrator is not here you want a table for next me I would because he he knows this sidew work rep and the School Street traffic flow we were going to have a meeting with him toward the end of last week sorry but he was out of the office it's fine and TK Force officer the chief couldn't be here he had to attend a wake for someone else this even correct yeah we can table those table C if we can move those to the next meeting those three items c d and e uh ordinances legisl non financials non miscellaneous directors Mr Casio yeah um I I just had a thought and I I want to codify this you know we talked about directors and directors uh salaries and I have no problem giving a director who is um who who's doing doing the work giving them a salary but what I do have an issue with is a director who was also employed by the Township in another position um as and I'll just give an example as Ken Ken's the director of law he has to be by law by Statute but he doesn't draw he doesn't draw a a salary as a director right for nothing for a director nothing nothing right so I think if if the person is a director of a particular um uh area and he's employed by the township maybe there should be a different um fee for that so that is just my thought you know there's only a few positions like that there actually could be more positions it doesn't really have so just the thought of maybe if they're employed by the Township in another area and they're already getting a a salary or a stien you know maybe limit it as like um Mr do member she was the Director of Finance she was also the CFO and she only drew a dollar for that directorship so that's just my particular um uh thoughts so give it some consideration and that would need an ordinance change correct that would need an ordinance change yes because it doesn't read that way correct that's correct that's right just like I I have a problem with the chief of police getting a um a contract because again it's he's like any other employee he's an at will employee you know and people would say it's not true but you know he is he's he's an employee of the town why does he get one when other people are employees in town they don't get a contract so again trying to keep things um homogeneous overall so can I ask just to spend the rules for one sure question since I'm full of full of speech today um this this has to do with the fair uh housing and I saw this article um and I'll be real quick uh and I'll just read to you uh Governor Murphy in March signed a um a law that now accessory dwelling units are able to be used as affordable housing do you know about that Ken no okay it's a which are ad adus are built on the same lot of a single family home and include in-law suites garage apartments and backyard Cotes and they could be used as our affordable housing number I'm sure that uh the planner will be looking at that I'm going to give that to you so I don't know you're aware that that sounds kind of I'm just saying I'm just saying we want we want to do what we can right theable housing numbers now to keep within in reason I was just going to say it that was raised at the planning board and as part of the reexamination Mr Burgess indicated that he was aware of that it was fresh it was new we actually uh I think we had a meeting that day or very close to it when that was announced and uh so I think it will be considered okay well I know say it's going to happen but but it will be consider the council was aware of it and I was just brought aware of it so that just wanted to bring it up on the radar um under zoning board I asked put this on there we have two members of the zoning board that are leaving the board um so I would like to ask the council to put out a uh if Mr wowski can put something up on the website and uh ask for resumes of people who are interested in uh joining our zoning board so will we be using the that for yes okay thank you excuse me Michael are they um they're both um term up or they no they are both alternate members and they're both they I can't discuss why they're you know they've asked to leave board can their names beas said and I don't I don't know why we need to say their name have they submitted resignations yes they've submitted resignations yes is the whole Council aware of that since the council the board we haven't we've got an email but we didn't get an official letter so that's why we didn't find that told but on for res shouldn't we be included in that email it wasn't an email she got a call I got a call being told so I said I want something in writing but they're resigning because that's why I put it on the agenda so it happened once we get the resignations officially then that's when we should be moving forward to advertising it happened Thursday I as two to put it on the agenda for today so it's the two alternate members Mr Mayor so if you okay if you want to figure out who they are it's the two alterate members I'll leave it at that uh motion to enter into Clos session resolution number 24282 property acquisition continued discussion property acquisition 450 pasak Road Mr par um we will not be coming out from closed session so motion to enter into Clos session so move second all in favor thank you everyone we'll take a five minute recess while Ricky comes down